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This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,
located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.
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The world's most popular video-sharing site introduced
local-language sites in nine countries on Tuesday that will
all just go by YouTube.

Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the co-founders of YouTube, which
was acquired by Web search leader Google Inc. for $1.65
billion last year, told a news conference in Paris that the
nine country sites will eventually feature locally popular
content.

Until now, while user-generated videos and comments could be
posted in any language, the YouTube.com site framework and
navigation menus are in English only. And the featured pages
users first see are heavily skewed to U.S. tastes. This is
despite the fact that more than half of YouTube's audience
comes from outside the United States, Chen said.
YouTube unveiled national sites for Brazil
(http://www.youtube.com.br), Britain (http://youtube.co.uk),
France (youtube.fr), Ireland (youtube.ie), Italy
(http://it.youtube.com), Japan (youtube.jp), the Netherlands
(youtube.nl), Poland (youtube.pl) and Spain (youtube.es).
During the first stage of the international move, each site
will offer fully translated local homepages and video search
functions. Over time, each national site will have an
entirely "local" feel that will allow for country-specific
video rankings and comments in various sections, YouTube
said.

Consumers will have a variety of ways to reach the
international sites. Users with computer Internet addresses
in the nine countries will be offered the option to switch to
the local sites. A series of flag icons will run along the
top of YouTube sites, allowing users to jump to other country
sites.